Railroad tie



E. E. CRUM. RAILROAD TIE.

APPLICATION FILED APR- B, 1922.

1,432,4A3, Patented Oct. 17, 1922.

Faienteol Clot, i7, I

UNHTED TAS P f a? ar {1 1" retr in ELMER E. CRU'M, OF ELTON,PENNSYLVANIA.

RAILROAD TIE.

Application filed April 8, 1922.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ELMER E. CRUM, a citizen of the United States,residing at Elton, in the county of Cambria and State of Pennsylvania,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railroad Ties, ofwhich the following is a specification, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings.

This invention relates to railroad ties and has for its object toprovide a railroad tie or rail support which prevents spreading of therails and at the same time serves to hold the rail in engagement withthe tie.

Another object of the invention is to provide a rail supportwherein theouter clamps of tahe device serve as track gauges for the roa It is astill further object of the invention to provide a support of thischaracter in the form of an attachment for wooden ties, wherein theoutermost clamps are formed integral with the plate, and the innermostclamps detachable with means for securing the innermost clamps and theplates to the tie.

With these and other objects in View, the invention consists in theimproved construction and arrangement of parts to be hereinafter moreparticularly described, fully claimed and illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of railwayrail supporting means, constructed in accordance with an embodiment ofthe invention, the conventional form of tie being shown in dotted lines,and the rails in section;

Figure 2 is a top plan view of the device, with one of the clampsremoved, showing the position of the sockets and openings for thefastening means;

Figure 3 is a perspective view of one of the detachable clamps.

Referring to the drawings, 5 designates a supporting member or platemade of metal and adapted to extend longitudinally of the conventionalform of railroad tie A, the plate 5 coinciding with the tie so that theupper surface of the tie is protected. Each end portion of the plate 5is exactly the same as the other, so that the description of one willsuffice for both.

Each end portion of the. plate 5 is provided with a laterally extendingrail groove Serial No. 550,847.

or seat 6, said groove corresponding in length to the width of the rail.Projecting from the upper face of each end of the tie is a rail clampingjaw 7 said jaw being formed integral with the plate, so as to preventspreading of the rails, due to side thrust of the train. The lower face8 of the jaw 7 pro ects over the groove 6 and is constructed to conformto the contour of the base of the rail, the lower portion 9 of the face8 merging with the ends of the grooves 6 so that the jaw 7 cooperateswith the groove to provide a recess corresponding to the shape of thelower portion of a rail in cross section.

Each of the stationary jaws 7 extends inwardly of the plate, so that itis impossible for either one of the rails to spread. In order to permitthe rails to be readily inserted in the groove, and beneath the jaws 7,a movable or detachable clamp 10 is provided, said clamp having itsupper surface 11 rounded, similar to the upper surface of the jaw 7,while the outer end thereof is inwardly beveled as at 12, the inwardlybeveled portion cooperating with the inner end wall of the groove 6 toconform to the shape of the base of the rail, similar to the jaw 7, andouter end wall of the recess. The plate 5 is provided, adjacent theinner wall of the groove 6, with a pair of spaced sockets 13, whiledepending from the detachable clamp 10 adjacent the beveled end 12 are apair of spaced pins 14 adapted to enter the sockets 13 so as to preventlateral movement of the detachable clamp 10 and to also as sist inholding the clamp in engagement with the rail.

The plate 5 is provided with an opening or bore of the tie 17 adjacentthe inner wall of each of the grooves 6, and between the sockets 13. Thebore 16 is intended to register with a bore 17 provided in the tie A,the lower portion of the bore 17 being enlarged to receive the head of abolt 18, so as to prevent movement of the bolt and at the same timepermit the tie to rest evenly on the road bed. The opposite end of thebolt, or that end which extends through the opening 16 of the clamp 10,is intended to receive a nut to not only clamp the clamp 10 to the plate5, but to clamp the plate 5 to the tie. In addition to preventinglateral movement of the clamp 10, the pins 11 also serve to a largeextent to relieve the main securing bolt 18 of a greater portion of thestrain, lon gitudinal movement of the clamp 10 being also prevented. a

From the foregoing it will be readily seen that this invention providesanovel form of railroad tie wherein the rails are not only preventedfrom side movement through the side thrust of the train, but wherein thedevice may be used as a gauge for the rails. In this way the tracks willalways be maintained in the proper-gauge. In addition to this, the'innerclamps of the device are removed so that it is possible to readilyinsert the rail in theg'roove of the device and in engagement with thestationary jaws thereof. Another important feature of this tie is thatit is composed of only two parts,

namely, the supporting plate and the movable clamps, spikes beingeliminated, as the bolts 18 are suflicient to hold not only the plate,in engagement with the tie, but the movable clamps in engagement withthe plate. Another important feature of this device is that the plate 5is provided with ;a plurality of openings 19'for the reception of spikesto spike the same to a tie when it is desiredto 'usethe same as a trackgauge.

What is claimed is An attachment for railway ties comprising a tie plateadapted to engage the upper surface of the tie, said plate coincidingwith the "tie, stationary clamps formed on the upper face of the plateinwardly of the ends of the plate, said plate having rail grooves, thegrooves extending beneath the stationary clamps, and detachable clampsdisposed inwardly of the stationary clamps, each of the detachableclamps consisting of a block having one edge thereof undercut'to,providea shoulderand a rail engaging jaw, pins depending from the'lowcr surfaceoii 'tlie block adjacent the jaw, said pinsbeingadapted to entersocketsprovided in thep'late'to position the shoulder of the blocksubstantially flush with the inner wall of the'rail groove, andfastening means extending through each detachable clamp, the tie;plateandthe tie. In testimony whereofI hereunto'alfi'x'my signature.

ELMER ORUM.

